VI.] CULTIVATION. 



two objections stated to the use of oxen. It is 

 said that theyffo sloivly ; and so they ought ; and, 

 on the finest arable farms that I ever saw, and I 

 believe are the finest in the world, I mean, in the 

 vales of Wiltshire, the horses go as slowly as 

 foot can fall. It is the history of the tortoise 

 and the hare ; the movements must be slow in 

 such a case ; and, if the time be well husbanded, 

 slow movements are the best. The other objec- 

 tion is, that their feet, unless they be shod, 

 (which they never should be, by me) disqualify 

 them from travelling upon hard roads. I am 

 not recommending them as fit for road wagons, 

 or vans or stage coaches. I am recommending 

 them for work upon a farm, which includes 

 going to the mill, going to coppice cart, going 

 to timber cart 5 as far as the outsides of the 

 farm ; all which work I have seen them perform 

 in the most excellent manner, at Farmer 

 Brazier's, at Worth, in Sussex, who always 

 has a team of four oxen, who has a pair of young 

 ones always coming on, and who now and then 

 fats a pair of the oldest, or sells them for the 

 purpose of their being fatted. A few miles upon 

 even a hard turnpike road does the feet of an 

 ox no harm ; or else, how do those which are 

 loaded with fat walk, sometimes a hundred and 

 fifty miles, for the purpose of being devoured by 

 the tax-eaters of London. These oxen are 



